Since early November, more than 120 seabirds — primarily western grebes, a diving creature with red eyes and sharp yellow bills — have been rescued along the Central Coast after a mysterious one-square-mile oil slick appeared off the Santa Barbara coast. Now, a few of them are headed back out to sea.
“It’s always rewarding to be able to share good news with our community,” said Ariana Gastelum, marketing and communications specialist at International Bird Rescue. “The first six western grebes from the recent influx of oiled birds have officially been released back to the wild.”
The release took place on December 2 at Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro, where healthy grebes are known to congregate. And it’s not just those six — by December 4, the number had grown to 17 successfully released birds…